Debden Security Printing Britannia Giftware

Debden Security Printing (DSP) was set up in March 1986 to exploit new technical developments at the Bank of England Printing Works. This included storage, note destruction, design and security consultancy. From mid 1988 the brief was extended to explore marketing opportunities presented by the Bank's new museum, including publications ‘The Search for the Inimitable Note’ and ‘The Moneymakers International’ (in collaboration with the Austrian National Bank). Booklets dealing with aspects of the Series E notes followed together with paperweights and other desk ornaments.
In June 1990 the first presentation pack was issued containing the last £5 notes in Series D and the first in Series E. With little advance publicity few collectors knew about it and the vast bulk of the issue went to a handful of dealers. Packs were soon changing hands at four times the £50 issue price. Unfortunately this gave a distorted view of the market and when the £20 pair (C102) was released it cost £200. By comparison, twenty years later the asking price for a Faraday/Elgar pair is only just above the selling price. To complicate matters the original purchasers of the £5 set had the right to buy subsequent matching prefix/serial sets of the £10, £20 and £50. If these later denomination were not taken up (and many collectors could not afford them) they were allocated to newcomers. So although a total of 1500 exist of each denomination, far fewer sets of all four exist with identical serials.
It is fair to say that some collectors (and dealers) felt aggrieved and doubted the validity of ensuing issues, especially when it was found that the so-called first and last were at variance with those found in circulation. A particular case in point was the Kentfield £10 DD prefix which was followed by a later run with the DA prefix. DSP argued that they were offering authentic first print runs in good faith and this was quite separate from the Bank's responsibility for mass note production. The charitable view might be that somewhere along the line the wires got crossed.
Collectors also began to question whether prefixes claimed to be ‘the last’ were, in fact, specially created and whether any had been put into circulation. Some dealers decided to break the packs to get hold of a particular prefix unobtainable by any other means. DSP acknowledged that some were column sort notes, prefixed 99 when sheet size dictated a top limit of 80, but that the alphabetical prefixes were within the recognised system.
This was not the case with the special prefixes on notes never intended for circulation, such as the Queen's 50th wedding anniversary (HM50 and EP50), the Prince of Wales' 50th birthday (PW50) and the Queen Mother's 100th birthday (QM10). Meanwhile the year sets could be purchased with birth dates or other anniversaries and some were done as joint ventures with the Royal Mint and the Royal Mail. There were inconsistencies in the denominations made available and in some cases (e.g. the £50) the notes were not obtainable without the gold crown.
Despite setbacks, special prefixes created for the Far East sold well and increasingly the business became focussed on such wholesale deals rather than the retail market for individuals. In May 2001 DSP announced that Britannia Giftware (as it was then known) would be operated by the Royal Mint with effect from 1st June. It was not a success and within two years the Bank decided (at the behest of De La Rue who were now running the printing works) that the effort of printing limited edition prefixes was not worth the trouble. Over the thirteen year period 1990-2003, there were some seventy eight special issues and these are listed in full with official confirmation of the quantities actually sold where known. Most of them were issued in presentation folders (or wallets) usually accompanied by certificates and in some cases descriptive booklets. Whether they receive greater recognition and acceptance by collectors with the passage of time remains to be seen.

All are Limited Edition Sets / Packs

1990 June FIVE POUNDS - LAST & FIRST
C100 £5 Gill SE90 (B353) A01 (B357)
Last Series D, first Series E. Limited edition of 1500 pairs with matching serials from 999999 to 998500 in blue leatheret binder.

1990 HM QUEEN MOTHER'S 90th BIRTHDAY
C101 £5 Gill A01 (B357) with silver proof £5 crown
Limited edition of 1100 sets (448 sold). Serials recorded between 002401 and 003503. The Bank supplied an unspecified quantity of £5 notes, believed to be around 1500. It is not known what happened to the balance.

1991 TWENTY POUNDS - LAST & FIRST
C102 £20 Gill 20X (B355) A01 (B358)
Last Series D, first Series E. Limited edition of 1500 pairs with matching serials from 999999 to 998500 in red leatheret binder.

1991 FIVE POUND & TWENTY POUND
C103 £5 Gill SE69 (B353) 20U (B355)
Limited edition of 400 sets with matching serials from 722501 to 723000. As the last prefixes were no longer available, the order form stated that both notes were drawn ‘from a very late prefix’ but did not specify which ones. DSP then booked the same 400 serials in advance for the £10 and £50 in C109 for those who wished to obtain a matching set.

1993 November FIVE POUND - LAST SHEETLET
C107 £5 Kentfield AB16/17/18 (B363)
Strip of 3. Limited edition of 1500 containing the last Kentfield £5 notes printed in sheetlet of three on the web presses (which ceased production in 1993). Serials from 999999 to 998500.

1993 November FIVE POUND - FIRST SHEETLET
C108 £5 Kentfield AC01/02/03 (B364)
Strip of 3. Limited edition of 1500 containing the first Kentfield £5 notes printed in sheetlet of three on the new sheet-fed presses. Serials from 000001 to 01500.

1994 TEN POUND & FIFTY POUND - LASTSC109 £10 Kentfield KR30 (B360) £50 E30 (B361)
Last Series D. Limited edition of 400 pairs with matching serials between 722501 to 723000. The relevant prefix/serials were earmarked in advance once the decision had been made to release the £5 and £20 in C103 in black leatheret binder.

1996 AS GOOD AS GOLD COLLECTION - MINISHEETC121 £5 Kentfield BH/BJ 25-28 & 33-36 (B364)
Minisheet of 8. Limited edition of 5000 worldwide. The sets were produced jointly by DSP and Money World Asia PTE Ltd. 2000 were put on sale at Suntec City, Singapore 5th/8th September 1996. The UK allocation was 200 minisheets BH 000400 to 000599 marketed by DSP in July 1996. Gold packaging.

1997 HONG KONG HANDOVERC122a £5 Kentfield HK97 (B364) single two packaging typesC122b £5 Kentfield HK97 minisheet of 12C122c £5 Kentfield HK97 overprinted sheet of 35
Singles, mini sheets of 12 and complete overprinted sheet of 35 were produced, mainly for the Hong Kong market. The Bank printed one million notes from 000001 to 999999 but certain numbers had to be withdrawn, including all those beginning with ‘4’, in deference to local tradition. All the prefixes on the sheets are the same HK97, and each note carries a different six-digit serial, which is a departure from the Bank's normal numbering practice. Total sales were 330000 of which the UK allocation was 50 sheets, although more have certainly been re-imported.

1998 THE UK ROYAL TRIPLET
C134 £5 (B364) £10 (B369) £20 (B375) BE98 Kentfield
Set of three denominations, produced for Money World Asia. Limited edition of 1888 sets. The notes are believed to be numbered from 000001 but the precise upper limit is not known as more notes were supplied than actually used. (traced to 000812).

1999 YEAR PREFIXC135 £5 Kentfield YR19 (B364)C136 £10 Kentfield YR19 (B369)C137 £20 Kentfield YR19 (B375)C138 £5 £10 £20 £50 (B377) Kentfield YR19
Set of four. Limited edition of 1000 notes in each denomination and 500 sets containing all four notes. As with 1998 year prefix, notes could be ordered with special birthday or anniversary prefix/serials, 990001 and following.

1999 SPECIAL RUN LASTS
C146 £5 £10 £20 £50 Kentfield DL99 KK99 CL99 H99
As in C142 to C145. Limited edition of 1000 sets with matching serials from 001001 to 002000. A further supply of Kentfield special run 99's was released later in loose leaf form, most of which were bought by dealers. Serials from 000001 to 001000.

1999 FIRSTSC147 £5 £10 £20 £50 Lowther EA01 KL01 DA01 J01
As in C142 to C145. Limited edition of 1000 sets with matching serials from 001001 to 002000. A further supply of Lowther first prefixes 01's was released later in loose leaf form, most of which were bought by dealers. Serials from 000001 to 001000.

2003 May FIRSTSC170 £5 £10 £20 Lowther HA01 (B395) AA01 (B388) AA01 (B386)
Fry Darwin Elgar. Limited edition of 1000 with matching serials within range from 001001 to 002100. According to a Royal Mint Coin Club letter “Traditionally whenever a new series of banknotes is authorised, the first 1000 notes are not made available to the general public.”